The 17 Most Unintentionally Hilarious Propaganda Posters

#8. Horse Sense (USA)

The Message:

Safety. It's horse sense!

The Problem:

Fucking what? It seems like they're implying that safety is the USA Network censored version of "horse shit." According to dictionary.com, horse sense was once used to mean common sense. That goes a long way towards explaining the phrasing, but not their decision to depict the horse in question as the bastard love child of Dean Martin and a retarded horse.

#7. Fieldwork Does Not Wait! (USSR)

The Message:

Do your chores... and be happy about it!

The Problem:

Don't worry papa! I'll head out to the field. I just need to go to the window to check the temperatOH HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!!!!! Kill it! Fucking kill it now!

#6. Oh, Yeah? (USA)

The Message:

To pull off the Herculean task of making Adolf Hitler look evil.

The Problem:

If you're going to turn the Nazis into a choir of fanged zombies, and reprint the lyrics of a song they wrote promising to take over the world, you might want to come with something a little stronger than "Oh, yeah?" It doesn't help that they've added an unnecessary comma after "Oh," making our response seem less hard-assed than surprised, and then after a moment of reflection, vaguely indifferent to the whole arrangement.

#5. The Soviet Muscle Men (USSR)

The Message:

Hey, Soviet kids! If you exercise and bathe regularly, maybe one day you can grow up to be proud Russian soldier!

The Problem:

Russian artists finally manage to conjure a Russian man who doesn't look like a down on his luck boxing trainer, and they do this? All pedophilia concerns aside, it looks like that kid is bracing for one devastating punch to the grill. But that's still better than what this kid probably just had to endure.

Come on Russia. We've seen Rocky IV. You guys were like the least gay country in the world. Your men ate steel and shit ice picks...

...And were apparently totally fabulous when nobody was watching.

#4. Keep Calm and Carry On (UK)

The Message:

Those Nazis currently overtaking your country? Don't let them get to you.

The Problem:

This 1939 British poster commemorates the baffling period at the beginning of World War II, known as "the Phoney War" or "the Bore War," a hilarious play on the Boer War, but with the spelling changed to reference how the Allied Powers sat around scratching their balls for the first few months of World War II. Of course, it was less of a bore for Poland, and the other parts of Northern Europe that Hitler was invading at will during this period. Lots of action for those countries.

Anyways, as Hitler plotted to assassinate Winston Churchill and install the Nazi sympathizing Edward VIII as king, the British government planned the propaganda poster equivalent of Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy." Cheerio then, old chap!

#3. Don't Trust Capitalism! (USSR)

The Message:

Fuck capitalism!

The Problem:

Was this really the big fear in the Soviet Union at the time? Americans showing up with eggs? Sure, trying to hide that bayonet in what we're assuming is a copy of The Constitution is shady, but it's not like they couldn't spot it. Besides, only the earliest drafts of The Constitution included a bayonet.

#2. DEAR GOD, Keep Them Safe! (USA)

The Message:

Buy War Bonds, or the kids will fucking get it!

The Problem:

You know what kids really need to be protected from? The sadistic government employee who came up with this campaign. And not to burst your bubble, Sally, but that apple is going to be completely inedible if what you're preparing for actually comes to pass. You might as well just chuck it now.

#1. The Feeling of the Sisters of the Two Coasts (China)

The Message:

Hey, what's with all the hostility? There's no reason China and Taiwan can't be friends.

The Problem:

Problem? Who said there's a problem? This is the best damn thing we've ever seen.

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